Shock absorbers are well known in the art.
Indeed, conventional shock absorbers generally comprise a hydraulic circuit or path containing fluid (typically oil) for carrying out a damping of shocks that a vehicle may be subjected to when travelling over a given terrain. Essentially, the damping of shocks is done via a restriction of the fluid contained in the hydraulic path of the shock absorber.
Also known in the art are conventional shock absorbers that rely on a compressing of an elastic objet (e.g. spring) for carrying out a corresponding damping of shocks.
Also known in the art are conventional shock absorbers that rely on a combined effect of both a compression of fluid and a compression of a spring.
It is also known in the art that in certain conventional shock absorbers, when the shock compresses, the movement of a corresponding shaft will displace a certain amount of hydraulic fluid (e.g. oil). This displaced oil will pass through adjustments (ex. “shims”). The range of these adjustments can vary the opening of the flow channels for the oil to pass therethrough. If the passage is smaller or reduced, then the oil will encounter more resistance to flow therethrough. If the passage is larger or increased, then the oil will encounter less resistance to flow therethrough. This resistance will permit the shock to absorb a certain amount of energy, depending on the particular static and/or dynamic loads to which the vehicle, including such a conventional shock absorber, is subjected to.
Also known in the art are the following US patents which describe various devices (dampers, stabilizers, shock absorbers, etc.) for use with motorbikes, ATVs and the like: U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,628,811; 1,957,997; 2,009,678; 4,773,514; 5,516,133; and 6,401,884 B2.
Also known to the Applicant is U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,614 granted on Sep. 3, 1991, to John A. Rau, which relates to a shock absorber spring adjuster device. There is described a shock absorber assembly which includes a piston/tube shock mechanism provided with adjustment devices permitting variation of the effective length and thus operating parameters, of a coil spring surrounding the shock mechanism. Adjustment is obtained by the vertical displacement of a member surrounding a body sleeve disposed exteriorly of the shock mechanism and wherein this vertical displacement alters the elevation of one end of the coil spring. A lock nut secures the obtained adjustment and both the member and nut may be manipulated with a simple tool cooperating with a specific configuration on the periphery of the member and nut.
The majority of shock absorbers available on the market now, make it possible to increase or decrease the force applied on the shock absorber spring via a nut located on the absorber body. Typically, these nuts are adjustable using a tool that is provided with the suspension. Also known in the art are the substantial drawbacks associated with these types of conventional adjustment systems in that the adjustment of the nut could become fairly difficult considering the restricted room available around the suspension, such as on an ATV, for example. Also, each shock absorber spring has to be adjusted independently, increasing error in trying to have two or more equal spring preloads. Moreover, another substantial drawback associated with conventional adjustment systems of shock absorbers is that typically, the vehicle has to be stationary and the rider has to disembark from the vehicle, this task being also tedious and time consuming, even with the proper specialty tooling.
It is also known in the art that there are various preload systems for mechanical springs that are currently available on the market. These preload systems are typically used for motorcycles. Generally, an adjusting knob is used to manually move a piston which will displace a fluid into a chamber, said chamber can expand or retract to compensate for displacement changes of the fluid. The preload piston can be placed remotely from the chamber to ease the accessibility of the knob. Fluid from the piston to the chamber will be connected typically with a hose.
Another substantial drawback associated with this conventional type of preload system resides in that, before finding the correct suspension adjustments on an ATV for example, one needs to complete several tests and one cannot interact with the adjustments while riding to face different types of riding conditions or weight distributions on the bike.
Track systems are also well known in the art.
For example, belonging to the Applicant is U.S. Pat. No. 7,556,130 B2 granted on Jul. 7, 2009, to Lamoureux et al. There is described a track system for providing complementary shock absorbing capability to a primary shock absorbing assembly having a hydraulic path containing fluid. The track system includes a chamber, a damping assembly and an adjusting assembly. The chamber has opposite first and second ends, the first end of the chamber being provided with a port operatively connectable to the hydraulic path of the primary shock absorbing assembly, the port being configured for allowing fluid from the hydraulic path of the primary shock absorbing assembly to enter and exit the chamber of the track system through the port thereof. The damping assembly is configured for damping a flow of fluid entering the chamber via the port thereof. The adjusting assembly is configured for adjusting a damping mode of the damping assembly.
However, the above-mentioned conventional assemblies are not configured, designed or even meant for varying an eyelet-to-eyelet distance in response to a given input of a driver of the vehicle.
Indeed, taking the example of a conventional snowmobile, as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, when a snowmobile undertakes a left or a right turn, in some applications, such as “back country”, typically, because the suspension assemblies are independent from one and other, the innermost suspension assembly will stay against the given snow on which the snowmobile travels, but the outermost suspension assembly will not always rest against the snow, thereby depriving the snowmobile from a desired traction which is useful for better steering and control of the snowmobile. Therefore, it would be beneficial to provide a system where the eyelet-to-eyelet distance can be varied in response to a steering direction of the vehicle, so that, in the case of a snowmobile for example, the outermost ski may contact the snow when the snowmobile is being turned, for better grip and control, etc.
Hence, in light of the aforementioned, there is a need for an improved device or system which would be able to overcome and/or remedy some of the aforementioned prior art drawbacks.